With a worldwide focus on improving cybersecurity strategies and solutions, it should come as no surprise that the manned security services industry is similarly expanding rapidly. A report from Daedal Research found that on a global scale, business is booming, while an industry forecast about this sector in the U.K, – conducted by Apex Insight – discovered similar data indicating an increasing reliance on private protection. New technologies make security and guarding easier than before, but rapid expansion isn’t necessarily a good thing for some security firms.

The immense increase in security services spending is leading to competition. Apex Insights’ report noted that market consolidation of smaller security firms caused larger enterprises in this sector to steal a big portion of customers. Security service providers need to set themselves apart from the competition. This calls for more productive employees, error elimination, enhanced security measures and cost reduction.

In fact, many businesses in the security services industry are turning to mobility in order to improve their company at the foundation, as indicated in a Group 4 Securicor case study. After all, employees are the organizations, and if they have the ability to perform their jobs and tasks more efficiently with less errors and at a lower cost, customers will be more satisfied and better protected.

Enterprise mobility in the security services sector has the potential to reinvent the way employees work, and it all starts with creating mobile workflow applications based on existing daily tasks and jobs. Businesses can get started with a mobile app development platform easily by signing up for Mobilengine, but what are the tangible benefits of adopting an enterprise mobility strategy in the security and guarding services industry? And furthermore, why would a security firm need mobile apps?

Improving productivity in real time
In the security services and cash management industry, employees are often out and about and away from computers and other technologies. So, when they return back to the office or headquarters, they need to manually enter information and tasks into their respective applications and systems. Administrative duties, therefore, make up a large portion of the work completed every day.

Obviously, with a mobile device and workflow app, those staff members can enter data from their current location. With a platform like Mobilengine, security and guarding service providers can empower their employees to even work offline. These capabilities alone will reduce field administration by up to 60 percent while mitigating the need to perform as much as 40 percent of back-office jobs.

The key is the real-time communication capabilities of mobile workflow apps hosted by Mobilengine such as security tour planning apps and cash management apps. As soon as employees in the field submit data, that information makes its way back to headquarters, mission-critical databases and applications. This saves employees from having to manually enter data and allows administrators to work in real time and stay in-sync with guards and security personnel who are on the job.

Security teams can use mobile apps for any conceivable task.

Eliminating errors
Without mobile devices, security professionals and guards rely on manual, handwritten data collection; long, task-filled checklists and obtuse sets of rules. Those aspects of working without mobility can lead to errors in information, employees could complete jobs incorrectly, and some staff members can forget certain steps when securing locations and equipment.

The Mobilengine platform eliminates the chance of making an error on-site. For example, a security tour planning app provides employees with their tasks for the day as well as areas to input specific data, ensuring that the appropriate information is collected at every ATM stop. In fact, with Mobilengine, security and guarding professionals reduced errors by up to 70 percent.

Enhancing security
In the security and cash management services, employees must protect assets at all costs. It is quite clear that paper documents provide a minimal amount of security compared to digital solutions, as all it takes is simply misplacing a piece of paper and a company can become compromised.

Cash in transit monitoring apps grant an extra layer of security to already secure practices, as administrators can track activities in real time. ATM visit apps are equally secure.Take G4S​, for instance. If a guard must assess ATMs, Mobilengine allows businesses to implement unique PINs for each unit or worker. With this solution, organizations can ensure collected data matches internal records in real time, as well as keep unwanted eyes from accessing certain workflows or forms.

Furthermore, Computing, U.K.’s leading business technology publication, explained that mobile backend-as-a-service models – such as the one provided with Mobilengine – employees can securely connect to backend systems without any additional coding or infrastructure. Data transmits over secure channels to the Mobilengine cloud, then travels to business applications. The source noted that this singular entry point is the key to being secure.

Cutting costs
Cost is perhaps the most important aspect of mobility in the eyes of business leaders. After all, going mobile shouldn’t put a drain on IT budgets, but rather improve productivity, reduce overall spending and therefore boost revenue.

With mobile workflow apps that allow these companies to track assets and employees, security and guarding service providers were able to lower the cost of their insurance plans by as much as 40 percent. Furthermore, with employees working harder, getting more done and saving time in the process, earnings will improve, and security worksheet apps ensure that no one works overtime.

However, businesses also need to reduce costs related to mobile app development in order to see a good return. Mobilengine can enable security firms to lower their total spending by between 10 percent and 30 percent.

Security professionals need mobile devices to improve the way they work. With Mobilengine, these organizations can take mobility to the next level with a complete platform-as-a-service solution that covers everything from development, backend infrastructure and management.

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Adam Dalnoki, Mobilengine’s CEO, brings IT and telecommunications expertise as an ex BCG consultant. He made a previous exit in a mobile payment start up and has held sales executive positions at Provimi and Kraft Foods.